(17 June 1938 – 12 March 2006)

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Professor Zdzislaw Bubnicki was born in Lwów, Poland (now in Ukraine). His family, of modest middle-class and civil-service background, expelled in 1945 from Lwów as a result of the post-war border regulations, was resettled to Gliwice, where he started his college and academic career. All his scientific activity has been connected with Wrocław University of Technology where he began his work in 1960 after graduating summa cum laude from the Department of Electrical Engineering of the Silesian Technical University in Gliwice in the newly established specialization: Automation and Remote Control. He received his PhD and DSc degrees from Wrocław University of Technology in 1964 and 1967, respectively. His titles of professor and full professor came in quick succession in 1973 and 1979. He was elected member of the Polish Academy of Sciences (PAS) in 1985. After a few years he was elected to senior membership in PAS.

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Undoubtedly, Prof. Bubnicki was one of the most outstanding contemporary Polish scientists whose scientific career was driven by his extraordinary intelligence and boundless capacity for hard work. At the beginning, his research activity was focused on control and its applications. The first paper, being the result of his investigations as a student, was published in 1961. It was devoted to ‘the analysis of Ashby’s homeostat as the multidimensional control system’. Professor Bubnicki opened up many new research directions in the field of computer and control science, in particular in the areas of:

artificial intelligence and uncertain systems. ਍㰀⼀甀氀㸀ഀഀThe main results of his research work can be briefly described with reference to the areas mentioned above.

਍ഀഀDiscrete and digital control systems: new stability conditions, convergence of approximation processes for discrete systems with application to computer control systems. The results were published in:IEEE Transactions, the bulletin of the French Academy of Sciences, the outstanding Russian journal Avtomatika i Telemechanika and were synthesized in the monograph being the basis for obtaining the PhD degree.

਍ഀഀIdentification and pattern recognition in complex systems: the well known pattern recognition algorithm LI (Least Interval) presented at the IFAC World Congress, theory of global identification (foundations and solution algorithms for several cases and applcations). His research on system identification was collected in the book Identification of Control Plants published by Pergamon Press in 1980.

਍ഀഀControl of operation systems: control theory methods for complexes of operations (setting up and development) with applications to computer systems as well as to control and management in manufacturing systems. The results were presented at the IFAC World Congresses in Helsinki and Tokyo. This research was continued and developed also in other scientific centres in Poland and abroad.

਍ഀഀExpert systems and knowledge-based computer decision systems: the original foundations of knowledge-based systems, in particular, the logic-algebraic method (the Bubnicki method). The results were published in Systems Analysis Modelling and Simulation as well as in the book Introduction to Expert Systems (in Polish).

਍ഀഀArtificial intelligence and uncertain systems: new learning algorithms for systems with knowledge representation, theory of uncertain variables useful in analysis and decision making in systems with uncertain knowledge, unified theory of uncertain systems based on soft variables, control algorithms for computer systems with a distributed knowledge base. The main results were presented in two books published by Springer Verlag as well as in several articles, e.g.: IEEE Transactions on SMC, International Journal of Control, , International Journal of Systems Science, Kybernetes.

਍ഀഀHis over 250 publications comprising all his research appeared in: IEEE Transactions on Circuit Theory, IEEE Transactions on Automatic Control, Avtomatika i Telemechanika, Mechanika i Processy Upravlenija, Systems Science, Artificial Life and Robotics, International Journal of Control, International Journal of Systems Science, Foundations of Computing and Decision Sciences, Systems Analysis Modelling and Simulation as well as in 9 books among which the most important are:

Analysis and Decision Making in Uncertain Systems, Springer Verlag 2004 (received the Book of the Year Award). ਍㰀䰀䤀㸀㰀椀㸀䴀漀搀攀爀渀 䌀漀渀琀爀漀氀 吀栀攀漀爀礀Ⰰ㰀⼀椀㸀 匀瀀爀椀渀最攀爀 嘀攀爀氀愀最 ㈀ 㔀⸀ഀഀ

਍ഀഀProfessor Bubnicki was of the opinion that organizational and research activities are no excuse for neglecting teaching duties. He acted as the successful supervisor of 45 PhD students, 16 of whom currently hold professorial positions. He is recognised as the founder of the Wrocław scientific school of computer science and control systems.

਍ഀഀProfessor Bubnicki is very well known in the Polish scientific community as the founder and for many years the director of the Institute of Information Science and Engineering (the former Institute of Control and Systems Engineering) at Wrocław University of Technology and a co-founder of the Faculty of Computer Science and Management of the same university; a full member of PAS; the president of the PAS-Wrocław Branch (1991-98); the chairman of scientific councils of the Institute of Computer Science of PAS (1987-89) and of the Systems Research Institute of PAS (1990-2006), the president of the Committee of Automation and Robotics of PAS (1988-2006); a member of the Committee of Informatics of PAS and a member of a working group of the Pollish State Committee for Scientific Research (1997-2000).

਍ഀഀThe title of Doctor Honoris Causa was conferred upon Professor Bubnicki – as one of the most important figures in Polish systems science – by the Szczecin University of Technology, the Military University of Technology and the Poznań University of Technology.

਍ഀഀThe work of Professor Bubnicki is well recognized also by the international community. He was a Polish representative in the IFIP General Assembly and in the IFIP Artificial Intelligence Committee; a member of the technical committees of the IFIP and the IFAC; a member of the executive boards of the International Association of Science and Technology for Development, IASTED (Canada) and the International Institute for General Systems Studies, IIGSS (USA); a Polish representative in the Administrative Council of the European Union Control Association, EUCA; a visiting professor and a participant of international conferences, e.g. in: the USA, Japan, Canada, India, the P.R. of China, Australia, Brazil, Egypt, Mexico and most European countries.

਍ഀഀProfessor Bubnicki was the founder and editor-in-chief of the Systems Science journal. He acted as editorial board member for a number of journals, including Control and Intelligent Systems, Systems Analysis Modelling and Simulation, Artificial Life and Robotics, Foundations of Computing and Decision Sciences, Control and Cybernetics as well as for the Springer series Advances in Computing Sciences.

਍ഀഀProfessor Bubnicki as an excellent and active scientist and educator was a member of many national and international scientific associations, including the Polish Academy of Sciences (full member); the Russian Academy of Natural Sciences (foreign member): the World Organization of Systems and Cybernetics, WOSC (honorary member); IEEE (senior member) and received numerous national and international awards, e.g. many awards of the Ministry of Higher Education, the IFIP Silver Core Award, the Best Paper Award at the CASYS conferences in Belgium, the Distinguished Leadership in Science and Education Award, the Life-long Achievement Award and the Distinguished Professor title from the International Institute of Advanced Studies in Systems Research and Cybernetics, IIAS (Canada).

਍ഀഀInnovation in thinking and in acting was his most noticeable character feature. Professor Bubnicki was constantly learning new ideas and examining new approaches to do things. In consequence, his activity was a constant challenge to his co-workers and students.

਍ഀഀThis special solemn scientific session is held during this year’s XVI International Systems Science Conferesnce – in memory of Professor Zdzislaw Bubnicki, the initiator and chairman of all the previous (starting from 1973) international SYSTEMS SCIENCE conferences.

਍ഀഀWe are grateful to the authors for their excellent contributions to this session.

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